Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Big Chief Dago, aka Barry Davenport from Dublin, helps Brett O'Mahony from Clare put up her tent at the Electric Picnic today. Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland
Daily Fix

The Daily Fix: Friday

Catch up on the day’s biggest news stories, as well as the bits and pieces you may have missed.

EVERY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of the day’s biggest stories, as well as the bits and pieces you may have missed.

  • Two people arrested in connection with a multi-agency cross-border investigation into illegal fuel laundering have been released. Two other men were still being held today.
  • A 17-year-old girl has written an open letter to Minister for Health James Reilly outlining her struggles with depression and anxiety and calling for the help she needs. Ciara Molloy says that the psychiatric care currently available for teenagers in Ireland is a disgrace.
  • The Eurozone GDP growth average is being bolstered by a country that has been without a central government for 15 months: Belgium.
  • Meanwhile, new figures from the Department of Finance show that Exchequer returns are 1 per cent ahead of target, but that VAT is down for the third month.
  • Two teenagers arrested in connection with the hacking of Fine Gael’s website in January have been released without charge.
  • Dublin nightclub Tramco is holding a special promotion tonight in which patrons can exchange their underwear for a free drink.
  • A UN report on the Israeli raid of a flotilla attempting to breach a naval blockade of Gaza last year has found that the blockade is legal, but excessive force was used against the activists. Nine Turkish citizens were killed in the storming of the Mavi Marmara. Today Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador in response to the report.
  • A Mexican police official has been arrested during the investigation into an arson attack on a Mexican casino which killed 52 people.
  • Iarnród Éireann has submitted its business case for a €200 million 7km DART line extension which would add Dublin Airport to the rail line. Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar is undertaking a review of the government’s investment priorities for transport. In today’s poll, we asked which new transport link you’d prefer for the airport, if any, and 48 per cent chose the DART extension and 35 per cent said the Metro North.
  • Sit back and relax this Friday evening with this week’s award-winning short: Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty.
  • This bullying cat video is doing the rounds (watch out for ‘lion cat’s’ appearance at around the 38 second mark):

  • Sony has released further information of what it hopes will prove to be iPad killers: two new touchscreen tablet devices running Google’s Android system. One potential customer is this US woman, who discovered that the $180 iPad she bought from two men in a McDonald’s car park turned out to be a plank of wood.
  • The Republic of Ireland faces Slovakia in the Aviva this evening. TheScore.ie is liveblogging the match from the stadium.
  • (not) Cardinal Sean Brady writes in his column this week about the push by Fianna Fáil supporters to keep their party dream alive.
  • Canadian radio stations are allowed to play the original version of Money for Nothing by the Dire Straits – after a ban on the song introduced at the start of this year was lifted.
  • What things have you learned from your mother? That’s the question The Line has been asking these people on the streets of Dublin.
  • Anyone who is nine months pregnant and even remotely considering going to the festival is strongly advised to think again by today’s columnist Colin Murphy. Meanwhile, thousands of people have been streaming to Stradbally for the first day of the three-day event. And if you’re not heading to the ‘Picnic this weekend, but wish you were, then check out our nine videos to cheer you up.